Ayumi's Story
by Brandy Camel
Summary: Many years after there was Naruto and Co., other young ninja step up to defend Konoha. This, however, is only one of their stories. Based off a character from another story, Wings of the White Angel.
1. Chapter 1

Ayumi's Story

Prologue

By: Brandy Camel

Disclaimer: A lot of the concepts for this story were inspired from the fanfiction "Wings of the White Angel" by WolfGeneral. He's a friend of mine, and I created Ayumi for his use. However, I wished to expand on her story. So see this more as a supplement and insight into Ayumi's character. In fact, I'd suggest reading his story first, even though where this ends is where Wings will pick up. The prologue starts 14 years before Wings, and one year after the time skip in Naruto (I.E. Naruto and Co. would be 16).

The roar of combat was not far away, and Ketsuko knew this. He looked over to his wife, cradling the small pink bundle close to her chest and praying for the survival of them all. They were the last Nakashimas left in Konoha; most had moved away when the trouble with Orochimaru had blown up into a full out war. After all, the family had never been built to be ninja. Ketsuko and Hana were the only ones left, along with their newborn Ayumi. They were also the only actual ninja in the entire clan.

"Hana, we need to go," Ketsuko dropped the drapes over their modest hut's door, not even a real house, to walk over to his wife and help her to her feet. Ayumi had been born only an hour earlier, and the child had yet to stop crying. They had stayed in one place far too long. "We'll be noticed soon,"

Hana nodded, feeling ill and weak from the process of the birth, and held her daughter tighter. "Ketsuko… if I do not make it…"

"Shh, don't worry. You will. We all will," Ketsuko planted a soft kiss on his wife's forehead, and swept her and the child into his arms. "Let's move,"

He left the hut, holding his family tightly and leaping from tree to tree. 'It's too soon to be moving her, but I don't have a choice…' the man thought to himself, glancing behind to see the encroaching fire heading towards the hidden village. 'I must get to the main gates,'

The Nakashima family had always been on the outskirts of the village, working as medical herb farmers and outpostmen, reporting if trouble was on its way. Now was the time to report.

Ketsuko stopped, hopping down to a forest clearing and holding his family closer. 'I'm not going to make it,' he though as he set his confused wife down on her feet and slid into a fighting stance.

"Hana. Run," he ordered, and his wife bolted the best she could in her condition towards the town, Ayumi wailing the entire way.

"How noble of you. But, you know, with that screaming brat, it's only a matter of time before my colleagues find her anyway," a lithe young man with white hair and round glasses slid down part of a tree trunk to rest on a branch, lifting a hand up to adjust the lenses resting on his nose.

"Who are you and what do you want with me and my family?" Ketsuko demanded, brushing his black hair out of his dark brown eyes, a snarl on his face. 'I can sense his strength. I'm no match,'

"Who I am is hardly of any importance," the man slid down further, finally resting on the ground. "And I don't have any personal interest in your family. But that headband you're wearing tells me you are my enemy, and therefore you must die," he shrugged nonchalantly, as if it were simply a fact of life.

"You're a Sound Nin,"

"How observant! You get an A," the ninja disappeared and reappeared only seconds later with a kunai implanted into Ketsuko's stomach. "But not in combat it appears," he smirked as the man fell from his weapon, clutching at the fresh wound.

"Gyuah…" a small glow appeared around Ketsuko's hand and the blood flow abruptly stopped. "You won't… get me that easily,"

"Oh, a medic-nin! How interesting," the man readjusted his glasses again with another cruel grin. "This may prove more fun than I intended…"

Hana ran as fast as she could, no matter how much pain was tearing through her abdomen and no matter how taxed her body felt. Any chakra she had was being used as physical energy to make it to Konoha. As soon as she saw the gates peering out between the trees, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"THE SOUND ARE HERE!"

It all happened so quickly that she only had time for one thought. Between the tearing pain of post child birth, the exhaustion that over took her weak body, and the kunai that pierced entirely though the back of her neck, all she could pray was that her daughter would be safe.

"Kakashi!" a young ninja, only just newly dubbed chuunin, burst through the headquarter doors. "Kakashi! The Sound have come! We must alert Godaime and gather forces!"

The lazy-eyed man known as the Copy Ninja looked up from his book and sighed. "I was expecting them yesterday. They're late,"

"This is no time for a joke! They've already killed our nins on the outskirts!" the man seemed enraged, a vein popping at his forehead.

"Casualties already," he sighed. "Go alert Tsunade. Send an envoy to gather up all available ninja, including the genin. I'm heading to the gates. We've got a war on our hands."

'Messy,' Kakashi thought to himself as he hopped over the gate and down to the collapsed body at his feet. The woman was definitely dead, he knew that much from just a glance. But before he could do anything more, he caught a kunai headed for the back of his neck. "Very messy," he voiced out loud, looking in the direction the shot had come.

"Well, I must be blessed. The first Konoha ninja I get to seriously kill is the famous Copy Ninja. It's been a long time, Kakashi,"

"Kabuto, I assume you've already stained your hands with your own people's blood?" Kakashi twirled the kunai on his finger before launching it back at the former Konoha nin. Kabuto caught it as easily as Kakashi had before.

"Heh, of course. Two already," he held up two fingers to emphasize and flashed a near 'Victory' sign. "But there's one I haven't claimed yet that I intend to," As if on cue, the infant still in her mother's arms began to wail and Kakashi's eye widened visibly.

"You sick son of a bi-," Kakashi didn't finish because Kabuto had already launched his attack. A flurry of kicks and punches caused him to back up a few steps before he settled into the flow and rhythm of the battle, and then it truly began.

Truth be told, once Kakashi lifted the hitai-ate band from his Sharingan eye, the fight was essentially over. There is no discrediting the fighting style of Kabuto, but there is very little for a medic-nin to compete with when he's up against a man with over one thousand jutsus memorized. Just the same, Kakashi felt it necessary to use Mangekyou, recalling thousands of images of the dead from the past Chuunin exams up to current, all caused either directly or indirectly by Kabuto.

"Remember what you did in your death, you bastard," Kakashi murmured as he cut the silently crying youth's throat out of pity. "Apologize to all those you have slain in the afterlife…"

Closing his eyes for a moment before lowering his hitai-ate again, he turned to the fallen mother and her daughter. Crouching next to the corpse, he slowly turned her over and lifted the pink blanket covering the newborn. His eye widened again.

"So young and already deprived of your parents…" his eye became lazy again and he sighed. "I am truly sorry," He looked up at the darkening sky and frowned. "I better get you somewhere safe," He scooped up the crying bundle, which quieted rather quickly. Looking down curiously, he saw the baby looking up with him inquiringly. A tiny hand reached up with a small demanding "Muh!" sound and Kakashi couldn't help but smile grimly beneath his mask. He let the child grasp his finger, and she giggled happily.

"I guess I'll have to keep you happy instead…"


	2. Chapter 1: Orphan

Ayumi's Story

Chapter One:

Orphan

By: Brandy Camel

Kakashi had never intended to be anyone's father. Sure, he had always been interested in women (his selection of literature could tell you that), but commitment was never a word he could deal with easily. The first couple of years of raising Ayumi were entirely new to him, but he decided to do it himself. He could have easily passed the task off to Tsunade or even one of his students (Sakura was good with children, he mused at one point), but this was a challenge.

Kakashi never backed down from challenges.

Just the same, raising a little girl was nothing like any missions he'd ever been on, and once the girl began to recognize him as her "father," it began to disconcert him. It didn't feel right for some reason.

He soon came to the decision to let her "raise herself." He began watching from the shadows as she grew, a small amount of pride in his heart. She raised herself well, never complaining about being alone, making friends, and altogether different than some of the other orphans he had known in his life. She seemed to be a light to people, no matter how dark it was for her.

The most he ever saw of her was when he left her groceries at the doorstep of her one-room apartment. Even at the age of three, he'd hear her scuttle behind the door with a stepstool to reach the doorknob, open it, and accept the package, always looking around for the mysterious giver. She didn't know him, and he preferred it that way.

He knew how much she knew; that her parents were killed mercilessly in the war with Konoha and that "the town" had taken care of her ever since. In truth, it was all coming out of Kakashi's own pocket, but he didn't mind. He felt it was the least he could do in repayment for the sacrifice Ayumi's parents made for all of Konoha. After all, without them, they would have never known Orochimaru's forces were on their way and being unprepared for a war is the worst possible situation to be in.

He wondered what she wanted to do with her life. It didn't take him long to find out that she wanted to be just like her parents, even if she had never known them. One day, as he was stopping by her studio on his way to meet his own students (though, he never gave him this new reason for being late; it was far too much fun to make up the other excuses), he saw her studying a scroll. It was a basic ninjutsu scroll, explaining the concepts behind chakra and how to control it. He only vaguely wondered where she got it; it was more than likely something she'd stumbled across in the few remaining boxes she inherited from her parents. He smiled to himself. 'Smart girl, even if she's only six…'

Kakashi never saw Ayumi to be a prodigy. When she enrolled herself in the academy, she was nowhere near the top of her class. By the contrary, she had to work very hard to even be seen as average. She enrolled at age eight, and at the age of eight is where our story truly begins…

"Mou, turn it off…" the groggy voice of a little girl hurled the first thing she grabbed, one of her two pillows, at her alarm clock, hearing it clatter to the floor, but fail in ceasing its annoying buzzing sound. It was muffled, of course, under her projectile, but that didn't stop her annoyance. Peering out under the other pillow she was hiding beneath, her dark disheveled hair fuzzed around her vision as she glared at the offending electronic. Muttering something about there not being enough hours in the day, she shivered as she got out of her warm, comfy futon, instantly covering her exposed arms. She tended to sleep in tank tops and shorts, much like a boy would, and for some reason never made the connection that it would be warmer in just about anything else.

"Brr, cold…" she mumbled to no one but herself; she couldn't have mumbled to anyone else if she had wanted to, after all. Stumbling into the bathroom, she grabbed a set of clothes off of the night stand next to it; if nothing else, she was organized. She needed all the help she could get in the morning.

A warm shower had her realizing that today was one of the important days; it was the first day of school for her! Or rather, the first day of her ninja training. She grinned into the water running over her face. 'Now I don't have to be alone every day,' she thought optimistically, and shook out her shoulder-length hair. It was practically black with the way the water darkened it, though to a close observer, they would notice it was actually a deep brown.

After the shower and getting dressed into her favorite outfit, an interestingly sleeved green top, slit two or three times down the shoulders, with some slim browncargo pants, she inspected herself in the mirror. "Ninja should be as unhindered as possible, right?" she asked her reflection. Not getting a reply, she assumed she was right and pinned up her hair on each side with a clip, pulling out the half-bangs that shaded her sparkling green eyes. And were they ever sparkling today.

Skipping out of the bathroom and into the kitchen area (as it wasn't exactly a room of its own), she poured herself a bowl of cereal and milk and sat down to munch. There wasn't really much in her apartment; she had never expected there to be. Everything she had was either inherited from her deceased parents or given to her by the Konohan community. Even so, it wasn't much. A picture or two of her parents, which had been salvaged from the ashes of her former home and that she cherished more than anything even if she wasn't in them, hung on the wall opposite her counter. She liked them there; that way she could greet her parents every morning before heading out for the day. The few other things were her alarm clock, which although beaten and battered from her constant morning abuse was still precious to her, her futon, which she reminded herself to fold up before she left, and a small bookshelf with a smattering of books from her old home. Those were her favorites; she liked reading. She couldn't afford to enjoy anything else, so she always read. Most of the books her parents had were medicinal or biology related, but she didn't mind. They were interesting.

The girl named Ayumi Nakashima finished her morning routine with some stretches, picked up her backpack with a couple scrolls, notebooks, pens, and pencils, and headed out the door. She glanced at the dark blue watch on her wrist. 'Plenty of time,' she grinned. 'I should stop by the bridge. It's so pretty in the morning…'

The happy little kunoichi-to-be strolled through Konoha with a skip in her step, enjoying the morning sun and finally stopping when she reached the river crossing. There, on the bridge, was a familiar sight to most early morning Konohans; a trio of three ninja, long since dispersed as a team but never dispersed as a group of friends, gathered, waiting for their ever-late sensei. It wasn't so much that it was a necessity anymore; it was a habit. She smiled and walked up to the group.

"Geez, you think after HOW many years he'd get a hold of himself and make it here on time just ONCE!" A tall blonde man resembling the Fourth Hokage grumbled, still looking tired and rubbing his eyes with a yawn, interrupting his statement.

"And you'd think after so many years you'd learn to stop complaining," came a calm answer from the darkest figure of the three, brushing a bit of dust off his right shoulder and not entirely paying attention to the complainer.

An exasperated sigh came from the third as she grabbed the blonde's Jounin vest from behind and kept him from leaping atop her husband. "Cut it out, you two. You BOTH haven't grown up, so why should he have had to?" This earned the pink-haired medic nin an embarrassed smile and a scratch behind his head from the blonde and a glare from her spouse. She just gave a smirk she'd inherited from her love in response, which seemed to irritate him to no end.

Ayumi stopped a little ways near the bridge, like she always did. She'd never actually talked to the three, but she knew they were aware of her, as always. She just liked watching them. She took her spot at the edge, swinging her feet over towards the water, and watched their morning argument.

A cloud of smoke and a soft "poof" signaled the arrival of their former sensei and Ayumi straightened. This must be a good day if she actually got to see _him_! She smiled dreamily as he appeared and gave a rather pathetic excuse ("I decided to take the scenic route today…") as to his tardiness. Still, she was happy. Even if it wasn't all that rare of an occurrence to see him with those three, it was rare enough to her. She knew nothing about him, other than the fact he was more powerful than the others and clearly older, and knew he was famous somehow. Not that she had heard anything; she had simply assumed.

After getting yelled at, the man chuckled and scratched behind his head. "So, are we ready to train together today?" He seemed eager to get off of the topic that involved him being in trouble.

"Well, I can't. I'll be sitting and watching and healing you jerks if you manage to injure yourselves as usual," the pink haired girl smiled pleasantly and Ayumi giggled. Ayumi liked her.

"Pregnant again, Sakura? You must be keeping her busy, Sasuke-kun," the older man would most likely have been grinning if you could have seen his face. Ayumi vaguely wondered why it was always hidden. But then, he wouldn't be the same without it, she thought.

"Aa," was all Sasuke replied, ignoring the comment entirely until he realized what had been said. A few moments later, he shook his head furiously, blushing only enough for it to be noticeable. The blonde burst out into laughter.

"Man, and Sakura-chan must be keeping HIM busy just with thoughts!" he let out his foxy chuckle and Ayumi giggled again. This was why she liked watching them; it was always enjoyable.

"Oh, hush, you two," Sakura was clearly embarrassed, as she was turning a shade of pink that rivaled her hair. "I'm not pregnant, I just have a lot of paperwork to do for the hospital. Honestly, you're all perverts," she stuck her tongue out in disgust. Sasuke gave a kind of 'What did _I_ do?' look, or rather, as much as the apathetic man could muster, and Naruto and Kakashi just laughed. They were both enjoying playing with their teammate and friend too much; it honestly didn't happen enough. "Besides, we all know Sasuke isn't eager to have to be stuck at home with another little one all the time. Once was enough, right, love?" she smirked and Sasuke just scowled.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that again," Sasuke glared at the side, knowing much better than to glare at his wife and supplier of his offspring. Sakura just giggled innocently. "If we're all done poking fun at _me_, then I suggest we get this training session started,"

"Sakura-chan, it seems you haven't taught him to have a sense of humor yet," Kakashi noted, glancing up from the book that had mysteriously appeared in his hands. Years later, and Jiraiya was still writing. Ayumi was always curious what the book was about, but had never found out. Lucky her.

"I'm not the teacher, Kakashi-sensei,"

"I'm not his wife. And how many times have I told you to stop calling me –sensei?"

"About as many as I've told you to stop calling me –chan. I'm a woman now, right, Sasuke-kun?" she nudged him in the side and he nodded automatically, even if he blushed and muttered something about changing the topic. It still amused Naruto to no end that the great and might Uchiha was verily whipped by their female companion. He had been chuckling the entire encounter.

"Well, we probably should go. Although I'm not the one to complain about lateness, one of us here will be if we don't leave soon," Kakashi's one-eyed glance moved over to the girl on the bridge and she jumped, her heart beating out of her chest. 'He's looking at meeeeee!' she squeaked in her mind. She tried to stand up quickly, successfully hit her head on a bar, and muttered a "Mou… itaiiii…" Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. Even if she didn't know, she was, in a way, his little girl. He walked over and patted the girl's head affectionately, getting a blushed and confused face in reply. "Don't be late for school,"

Ayumi looked up at him with wide eyes, glanced at her watch, then glanced back at everyone. She backed away a few steps, gave a bow, and bolted off without a word. Hey, what in the world are you supposed to say as an eight year old in that situation?

Kakashi laughed and looked back at his confused companions. "Well, shall we?"

Author's Notes: Alright, so this chapter may garner some questions. Like:

How does Ayumi cook when she's so young? -- Kakashi bought things easy to make or pre-made when she was too young to use appliances. Not to mention, this is a child who is smart and raised by Kakashi in her developmental years. She's bright enough to know what to do and what not to do. (If you see her in the other fanfic she's in, she's often the brain and the voice of reason)

How come she doesn't talk to Team Seven? -- She's too shy to approach, especially as she has, over the years, developed a crush on Kakashi. This might seem weird or creepy to some of you, but it's one) the kind of adoration a little girl would have with the handsome mysterious swashbuckler in a movie. Completely unattainable, but you want him just the same. Not to mention, she doesn't know Kakashi is her guardian.

If you have any other questions about continuity or something you don't understand, please post a question in review! I'll be glad to answer them, and possibly incorporate the answer into the next chapter. :) Next time, you'll meet some of her classmates and her best friend. Ja!


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